In supermarkets, department stores, fast food restaurants, and other retail outlets, there is frequently the need for consumers or store employees to place items in bags to facilitate handling and purchase. For example, produce bags are dispensed directly to customers to allow the customer to bag the produce as it is chosen for purchase. Also, in deli or meat departments, store employees place the selected meats or other deli products in bags (or other packaging) for the consumer. At fast food restaurants, especially when an order is made “to go,” the employee places the food in a plastic bag to facilitate handling and prevent spilling or leaking In the prior art, there are a number of designs for dispensing bags for these purposes.
Roll mounted produce bags are commonly found in modem grocery stores and supermarkets. These bags are designed for customers to use when purchasing fresh produce. The bags currently available are difficult for customers to use for several reasons. First, the bags tend to cling together due to excessive static and are difficult to separate from the roll. Second, it is difficult to tell the open end of the bag from the closed end of the bag. Third, the individual bags are difficult to open, as the sides tend to cling together. Fourth, some roll bags are “tn-folded” and require two hands to unfold and open fully.
Also, the prior art teaches plastic bag dispenser packs of produce bags or the like, wherein the bag packs are hung on, for example, plastic tab members. The pack of plastic bags includes a disposable upper portion connected to the lower plastic bag. A perforation is made between the upper portion and the lower plastic bag. The upper portion is attached to the plastic tab member. When a customer wants to use a plastic bag, he pulls on the lower plastic bag and tears it away from the upper portion at the perforation. These plastic bags suffer from many of the same shortcomings as plastic bags on rolls. Additionally, with these bag dispensing systems it frequently requires two hands to pull the bag down and open it Further, often more than one bag is removed, resulting in wasted bags.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,732,833, herein incorporated by reference, commonly owned by applicant, discloses a dispensing assembly for supporting packs of plastic bags. The packs of plastic bags include a disposable upper portion connected to the lower bag portion. A perforation is made between the disposable upper portion and the lower bag portion. When a customer wants to use a plastic bag, he pulls on the lower bag portion and tears it away from the disposable upper portion at the perforation While these plastic bags are suitable and cost-effective for a number of situations, in other situations these plastic bags suffer from some shortcomings. For example, with these bag dispensing systems it frequently requires two hands to pull the bag down and open it Also, often more than one bag is removed, resulting in wasted bags.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,264,059 commonly owned by applicant, discloses a “bag shield” for facilitating the removal of only one bag at a time from the stack and for maintaining a “billboard effect” of the bags in the stack This product has not been commercially successful for two reasons: (1) The bag shield must be removed to add additional packs of plastic bags to the rack and then the bag shield must be placed back on the rack over the additional packs of plastic bags. The present invention avoids the shortcomings. (2) In a grocery store or other retail store, the space a product occupies is an important consideration. The billboard effect of the '059 Patent requires a larger “footprint” (i.e., it is less desirable than the product(s) of the present invention because it takes up more space).
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0102573, herein incorporated by reference, commonly owned by applicant, discloses a four sided rack for holding four different sizes of packs of plastic bags.
U.S. Patent Applications Publication Nos. 2007/0144988 and 2007/0144989 both herein incorporated by reference, both commonly owned by applicant, disclose wire racks with wire side protectors for holding packs of plastic bags. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0031069 discloses a pack of plastic bags having a pouch.
Plastic Bag Dispensing Systems
There are many types of plastic bag dispensing systems. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,732,833, commonly owned by applicant, discloses a dispensing assembly for supporting packs of plastic bags. The floor standing rack includes a base member, a vertical member, and a support hook for holding the packs of plastic bags. The packs of plastic bags include a disposable upper portion connected to the lower bag portion. A perforation is made between the disposable upper portion and the lower bag portion.
The present invention(s) are concerned with racks and packs of plastic bags, as opposed to rolls of plastic bags and the devices for holding the rolls.
Packs of Plastic Bags with Disposable Upper Portions
FIGS. 1 and 2 show packs of bags 20 wherein a number of individual bag units are joined together to form the pack 20. The individual bag units have a disposable upper portion 21 and a lower bag portion 22 with a serration 23 between the disposable upper portion 21 and the lower bag portion 22. In forming the pack 20, the individual bag units are stacked on top of each other, and a header 24 is placed about the disposable upper portion 21. The header 24 and the disposable upper portions 21 are joined together in any suitable way; preferably, the header 24 is joined to the disposable upper portions 21 by inserting heated blunt rods through the header 24 and the disposable upper portions 21 to melt the header 24 and the disposable upper portions 21 together about the points of insertion 25. The insertion of the heated blunt rods serve to melt the plastic immediately adjacent to the header 24 and the disposable upper portions 21 at the points of insertion 25 to join together the header 24 and the disposable upper portions 21 of the individual bag units. In FIGS. 1 and 2, the points of insertion 25 show that small circular heated blunt rods were used to melt the plastic in the header 24 and the disposable upper portions 21; however, any shape of blunt heated rods would be suitable for this purpose. The header 24 is formed by cutting a flat, generally rectangular plastic piece and folding the rectangular plastic piece longitudinally in half to substantially cover the disposable upper portions 21.
FIG. 1 shows one embodiment of the header 24 wherein tabs 26 are cut from the header 24 (prior to folding the header 24 in hail) and side holes 27 and center whole 28 are placed in the tabs 26. FIG. 2 shows another embodiment of the header 24 having side holes 29 and center hole 30. Here, the holes 29,30 may be cut out of the header 24 and the disposable upper portions 21, or the holes 29, 30 may be formed with the use of heated to blunt rods as discussed above and as is known in the art. Preferably, the side holes 27, 29 are designed to be 8 inches apart; however, 6 inches or any other suitable distance may be used. The side holes 27,29 are utilized when two support hooks are used; the center holes 28,30 are utilized when one support hook is used.
Alternatively, a pack of plastic bags 20 may be formed without a header 24. In this embodiment (not shown), the individual bag units are slacked on top of each other and the disposable upper portions 21 are joined together such as by inserting heated blunt rods through the disposable upper portions 21 to melt the disposable upper portions 21 together about the points of insertion. The holes for hanging on a rack may be cut out of the disposable upper portions 21 or formed with the use of heated blunt rods.
The individual bag units generally include a back sheet and a front sheet which are sealed around the sides and bottom to form the lower bag portions 22. The back sheet includes serration 23 and the disposable upper portions 21, while the front sheet terminates just below serration 23 to form a bag opening 31. The individual bag units formed with opening 31 allows a product to be placed in a bag while the bag remains attached to the pack of plastic bags 20 such that the user may then use two hands to remove the bag from the pack of plastic bags 20 and seal the bag. The back sheet of the bag is attached to the upper disposable section with the serrated line while the front sheet of the bag is not attached to the upper disposable section and remains open, although, in use, it is not readily visibly apparent that the front of the bag is open.)
Packs of Plastic Bags without Disposable Upper Portions
There are several types of packs of plastic bags which do not have the disposable upper portion. For example, “T-shirt” plastic bags have handles extending upwards. The handles are fused together (e.g., with hot pins, “pressure bullets,” etc.) to hold the bags together in a pack When a T-shirt plastic bag is removed from its pack, there is no disposable upper portion.
The present invention(s) relate to packs of plastic bags with disposable upper portions and to packs of plastic bags without disposable upper portions.
Racks and Devices for Holding Plastic Bags
There are many types of racks for holding packs of plastic bags. Also, there are many devices for holding rolls of plastic bags. The present invention(s) only relate(s) to racks for holding packs of plastic bags.
As discussed above, U.S. Pat. No. 5,732,833, commonly owned by applicant, discloses a dispensing assembly for supporting packs of plastic bags. The floor standing rack includes a base member, a vertical member, and a support hook for holding the packs of plastic bags.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0102573, 10 commonly owned by applicant, provides a rack which is floor standing, stable, requires a minima! amount of space and is inexpensive to fabricate. It presents packs of different sized plastic bags in a neat and orderly, visually appealing manner. It is convenient to select the appropriate sized bag, and the rack is easy to stock with packs of plastic bags. An inventive feature of the invention is that the rack has four sets of hooks allowing the placement of four packs of different sized plastic bags in a neat and orderly manner such that the user may select which sized bag is appropriate for the product being placed in the bag. With known racks for holding packs of plastic bags, if different sized plastic bags were hung on the racks, the packs of plastic bags would be presented in a sloppy or haphazard manner. A rectangular platform having four sets of hooks provides a more visually appealing way to present four packs of different sized plastic bags than any other known way for presenting multiple packs of plastic bags. Here, it is preferable to hang wider packs of plastic bags on the wider sides of the rectangular platform. Also, preferably the platform rotates about the vertical member 13 allowing the user to more easily select the appropriate sized bag.
U.S. Patent Applications Publication Nos. 2007/0144988 and 2007/0144989, both herein incorporated by reference, both commonly owned by applicant, disclose wire racks with wire side protectors for holding packs of plastic bags.
Thus, there are a number of shortcomings with the known rolls of plastic bags and other bag dispensing systems. A common problem with dispensing produce bags is providing one bag to the consumer in a convenient, simple, and reliable fashion. Further considerations relate to ease of replenishing the supply, uniformity of dispensing, ease of opening, and ease of filling.
A need has arisen for a bag dispensing system which easily dispenses one (and only one) bag which can easily be opened and filled.
The present invention(s) relates to racks and packs of plastic bags which are used in grocery stores, retail stores, fast food restaurants, etc. to dispense plastic bags to hold the items purchased.
The present inventive product(s) is advantageous over known bag dispensing systems. It provides bag dispensing systems wherein the user is led to remove one bag instead of many bags from the system. Further, it provides bag dispensing systems for easy opening and filling of the bags.
The present invention(s) relate to all types of racks for holding packs of plastic bags, regardless of design or manufacturer.
These and other advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description and drawings.